1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a heating apparatus such as microwave ovens wherein an operation for selecting a desired cooking menu is improved.
2. Description of the prior art
In conventional microwave ovens, for example, desired one of a plurality of cooking menus is selected and heating is executed in accordance with the selected cooking menu. The microwave oven of this type comprises a plurality of selecting keys provided on an operation panel to correspond to the cooking menus respectively. Any one of the selecting keys is depressed so that a desired cooking menu is selected.
However, the number of the selecting keys has been increased with recent increase in the number of the cooking menus executed by the microwave oven, which has disadvantageously rendered the operation panel of the microwave oven large-sized.
The prior art has provided a countermeasure in which a single selecting key is repeatedly depressed so that the cooking menus are sequentially selected. However, the depression of the selecting key needs to be repeated by the number of times corresponding to the number of cooking menus depending upon the cooking menu to be selected. Consequently, the number of times of depressing the selecting key has been increased with the recent increase in the number of cooking menus executed by the microwave oven and accordingly, the selection of the cooking menu is much troublesome, which reduces the convenience of the microwave oven.
The prior art has provided another countermeasure which is a compromise between the above-described arrangements. FIG. 15 illustrates an operation panel I mounted on the front of a microwave oven embodying this countermeasure. The operation panel I includes a plurality of selecting keys 2 aligned vertically in its central portion. The selecting keys 2 correspond to a plurality of cooking menu groups respectively, such as "DAILY DISH" and "CONFECTION & BREAD." The operation panel 2 further includes a menu display section 3 disposed in the left-hand side of the selecting keys 2. The names of the cooking menus are printed on the surface of the menu display section 3. More specifically, the names of the cooking menus printed on the surface of the menu display section 3 include those of a plurality of cooking menus such as "BOILED GREEN VEGETABLE" and "BOILED EDIBLE ROOT" belonging to a cooking menu group of "DAILY DISH" and the names of a plurality of cooking menus such as "SPECIAL COOKIE COURSE" and "SPECIAL CAKE COURSE" belonging to a cooking menu group of "CONFECTION & BREAD." The menu display section 3 further includes light-emitting diodes (LED's) 4 corresponding to the printed cooking menus respectively.
When an automatic cooking is to be executed in the above-described microwave oven, a user depresses any one of the selecting keys 2 so that one cooking menu group is specified. Then, the user repeatedly depresses the selecting key 2 so that a desired cooking menu is selected. For example, when the user wants to select the cooking menu of "BEEF & POTATO STEW/BOILED FOOD," the selecting key 2 corresponding to "DAILY DISH" is first depressed. In this case, LED 4 corresponding to "BOILED GREEN VEGETABLE" is actuated. When the selecting key 2 for "DAILY DISH" is further depressed twice, LED's 4 corresponding to "BOILED EDIBLE ROOT" and "BEEF & POTATO STEW/BOILED FOOD" are actuated in turn. Thereafter, upon depression of a start key 5, the automatic cooking is executed in accordance with a cooking program corresponding to the selected cooking menu of "BEEF & POTATO STEW/BOILED FOOD."
In accordance with the above-described arrangement, however, the increase in the number of executed cooking menus increases the number of names of the cooking menus printed on the menu display section 3, which complicates the contents displayed on the menu display section 3. Consequently, the user has some difficulty in selecting a desired cooking menu and the operation panel is rendered large-sized as well.